How to draw PARADOX REVERSED

German tangler Anselm Peter joins us today and shares his tangleation of the Zentangle®-original Paradox, Paradox Reversed. This is his first tangle on the site.

After I mistakenly addressed my email to Peter and sent my apologies, Anselm replied,

don’t worry, even my German fellows are mixing up my first and my last name because “Anselm” is a very rare first name ;-).

By the way, it is an ancient German name, combined of two parts: “Ans” from the name of the ancient German gods and “Helm” like helmet and has the meaning “the one that is protected by the gods”. Not bad.

Anselm shares a little about himself and explains the inspiration for his tangleation:

I live in Berlin, Germany. In school I took the advanced courses mathematics and art. A strange combination but great for me. Then i began working as a software developer. But still i was looking for a non-technical hobby. Looking for years i was trying some kinds of fine art. And then I found Zentangle by chance.

I was looking for some pens for the children at an online shop and got an advertisement for Sakura pens. Went to them and got an information about a book on Zentangle. Got there and thought: Such beautiful small pictures. I read more on this kind of art and was electrified when reading about the ideas behind it. I bought some pens and papers … and that’s it. Since them i am tangling from time to time.

I discovered this pattern on a journey, having much time for Zentangle. I was reading the book “Zentangle Primer Vol. 1“. The chapter “More Tangles” told at Huggins: “Huggins illustrates two useful tangling techniques that we call alternate and mirror.”

I began playing with some well known patterns using alternate and mirror … i played with Paradox and added mirror by changing the direction on every round. And that’s it.”

Paradox Reversed really is a fun one to play with, but it can scramble your brain a little. What I found worked for keeping mine from looking like a scribble was this: when I was doing a 4-sided shape as in my example, I counted 4 strokes in one direction. Then at the end of the 4th stroke, you reverse the pen stroke’s direction and count/do 4 more strokes. And keep this up until you reach the center. Counting helped keep me from reversing direction too soon, or too late and both are easy to do.

The Zentangle-original tangle, Paradox.

Lots of possibilities for interesting effects with fills and shading … will Anselm’s Paradox tangleation launch more explorations?? (Margaret?) 😉

Anselm illustrates the step-by-step instructions for drawing Paradox Reversedhere on his blog where he includes a Paradox Reversedmonotangle on a tile divided into 4 triangles.

As you enjoy any of the tangles on the site, please leave a comment of thanks and encouragement to show the artists you appreciate them for sharing their creativity to inspire yours. Your comment helps motivate them to continue to share.

I hope you know how much I appreciate you all for taking the time to stop by, and for participating in the comments!

Check out the tag anselmp for more of Anselm’s tangles on TanglePatterns.com.

"... And then some"

Canadian CZT Margaret Bremner has a wonderful series of tutorials she calls "... and then some" where she takes several Zentangle®-original tangles "on a wild ride of variations". Truly, you do not want to miss these creative and inspirational tutorials. Look for the links to Margaret's tutorials on these pages:

Related Links

Linda's List of Zentangle-Original Patterns — here is the complete list of original tangles (aka "official tangles") created and introduced by founders Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas, including those not published online. If you are new to the Zentangle Method I highly recommend learning a few of the published Zentangle classics first.

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Another great jump-starter for new tanglers is the original Official Zentangle Kit. The Kit includes all the supplies you'll need to get started properly: Sakura Micron Pens, Zentangle Tiles, pencil, sharpener, tortillion, a booklet and an instructional DVD by co-founder Maria Thomas. Click on the image for more information about the Kit and its contents.

5 comments to How to draw PARADOX REVERSED

Great tangle. I love how this one is made. Thank you Anselm and Linda. You’ve got a great first name, Anselm. I know what you mean about a rare name – people will pronounce my first name all kinds of ways that I would have never thought about!! LOL Thanks again for Paradox Reversed.

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